Teasley v. State

MURPHY, Chief Judge.

We granted certiorari in this case to consider whether a mistaken application of Maryland’s criminal “sentencing guidelines” constitutes an error requiring that the sentence be vacated and a new sentencing hearing conducted.(1)

In 1979, the Maryland Judiciary, acting through a committee of judges, embarked upon a project to develop sentencing guidelines for voluntary use by circuit court judges to assure that like criminal offenders would receive like sentences for like offenses. More specifically, the project’s goals, as stated in the preface to the Maryland Sentencing…